Collective Iranian Culturebase

* Freedom of religion in Iran *

آزادی دین در ایران

(Wikipedia) - Freedom of religion in Iran is a debated subject. Iran is an Islamic republic u2014the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran mandates that the official religion of Iran is Islam and the Twelver Ja'fari school, and also mandates that other Islamic schools are to be accorded full respect, and their followers are free to act in accordance with their own jurisprudence in performing their religious rites. Iran recognizes Zoroastrian, Jewish, and Christian Irmic religious minority, is not recognized and is persecuted. Apostasy by a Muslim is punishable by death. There have been reports of imprisonment, harassment, intimidation, and discrimination based on religious beliefs. The continuous presence of the country's pre-Islamic, non-Muslim communities, such as Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians, had accustomed the population to the participation of non-Muslims in society; however, government actions continue to create a threatening atmosphere for some religious minorities. e Islamic Republic of Iran mandates that the official religion of Iran is Islam (see Islam in Iran) and the Twelver Ja'fari school, and also mandates that other Islamic schools are to be accorded full respect, and their followers are free to act in accordance with their own jurisprudence in performing their religious rites. Iran recognizes Zoroastrian, Jewish, and Christian Irmic religious minority, and other religious minorities. Apostasy by a Muslim is punishable by death, although the definition of an apostate in Islam (and in Iran) is a Muslim who leaves Islam and actively makes a mockery of it. There have been cases of imprisonment, harassment, intimidation, and discrimination based on religious beliefs.The continuous presence of the country's pre-Islamic, non-Muslim communities, such as Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians, had accustomed the population to the participation of non-Muslims in society; however, government actions continue to create a threatening atmosphere for some religious minorities.The country has a total area of approximately 1,636,000 km² (632,000 mi²), and its population is approximately 69 million. In 2006, the population was approximately 98 percent Muslim, of which an estimated 89% were Shi'a and 9% Sunni (mostly Turkomen, Arabs, Baluchs, and Kurds living in the southwest, southeast, and northwest). Although there are no official statistics of the size of the Sufi Muslim population, some reports estimated between two to five million people practice Sufism compared to approximately 100,000 before 1979.Bahá'ís, Christians, Zoroastrians, Mandaeans, and Jews combined constitute approximately two percent of the population. The largest non-Muslim minority is the Bahá'í community, which has an estimated 300,000 to 350,000 adherents throughout the country. Estimates on the size of the Jewish community vary from 20,000 to 30,000. These figures represent a substantial reduction from the estimated 75,000 to 80,000 Jews who resided in the country prior to the 1979 Iranian Revolution. According to U.N. figures, there were approximately 300,000 Christians, the majority of whom are ethnic Armenians. Unofficial estimates indicated an Assyrian Christian population of approximately 10,000. There also were Protestant denominati